The Best of The Littlest Bakehouse

The Littlest Bakehouse - Best of 1

best of

the top ten recipes from the Bakehouse

2 The Littlest Bakehouse - Best of


Avocado loaf p4

White chocolate & salted caramel layer cake p6

Autumn spiced shortbread p9

Viennese mince pies p10

Dark chocolate & smoked sea salt cookies p12

Strawberry & coconut cupcakes p14

White chocolate ginger cheesecake bites p17

roasted berry Frozen yoghurt p18

Squash, Stilton & sage soup p20

Chicken & leek savoury crumble p21

Conversions & guides p22

The Littlest Bakehouse is a food blog aimed at the space-deprived, full of dishes you can make without fancy equipment or expensive ingredients. It’s for people who don’t get home from work till 8pm and don’t want to tackle an ingredient list as long as their arm, or who spend their days dreaming about what they’ll bake at the weekend. It’s so called because I live in a small flat with a kitchen that’s just about wider than my arm span.

This little e-book (e-leaflet? e-something-to-read-while-you-wait-at-the-doctors-surgery?) brings together ten of the most popular recipes published on The Littlest Bakehouse since its launch towards the end of 2012. Bafflingly, the post with the most views is about how to poach eggs.

All content © Hannah Frost/The Littlest Bakehouse.



Yields one loaf

175g plain flour50g polenta

¼ tsp salt½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda85g unsalted butter, room

temperature225g sugar

1 medium avocado, mashed2 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract⅓ cup buttermilk (or half/half

Greek yoghurt and milk)

150g butter, room temperature100g honeyPinch of salt

270g icing sugar

MAY 22, 2013 — Unsurprisingly, people look a little dubious when they see a slightly green cake. That look of distrust doesn’t always go away when you explain it’s an avocado cake…but the taste is a pleasant surprise. It tastes like cake, not guacamole.

Go on, be brave.

Adapted from Joy the Baker

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C and line/grease a loaf tin. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, polenta, salt, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the butter until soft, then add the sugar, and beat for about 2 minutes (for the first minute it’ll look like a sugary paste that may never come together. Stick with it).

3. Add the avocado and beat until fully incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between them, followed by the vanilla extract.

4. Add half the flour mixture and beat on a low speed until incorporated, before adding the buttermilk followed by the rest of the flour. When fully mixed together pour into your tin and bake on the middle shelf for 40 minutes to an hour, until a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean (I check it every 5 minutes after 40, but it usually takes the full hour). Cool on a wire rack.

5. While the cake cools, make the buttercream. Beat together the butter, 50g honey, and salt, and then gradually add the icing sugar, beating on a low speed. Add more honey according to your taste. Spread on top of the cake.


JANUARY 27, 2014 — Letting go of the festive season has been a struggle. Our Christmas tree came down long after January 6, and the rest of the month saw me gleefully throwing leftover Roses and Quality Street down my gullet and swigging beer while I chuckled at the poor chaps giving up sugar and taking part in Dry January.

But it’s February in a few days, and nothing makes you realise you need to step out of Hotel Chocolat, even if there are bargains to be had, like facing Valentine’s Day as it rushes at you head-on.

Of course, I realised this after I made this cake. It was a multi-purpose delight: a birthday cake, a look-how-strong-my-willpower-is-I’m-not-even-saving-myself-some cake (kidding no-one, I know), and as the last slice was devoured with a cup of tea by a friend, fork in one hand, tissues in the other, a break-up cake.

The cake itself is layers of salted caramel, carried by a simple vanilla sponge and wrapped in white chocolate buttercream, the sweetness offset by the touch of salt. What a way to wave goodbye to January.



serves four

225g margarine225g caster sugar

4 medium eggs2 tsp vanilla extract

225g self-raising flour

100ml salted caramel sauce (see notes)

300g icing sugar100g butter, soft

105ml (7 tbsp) double cream125g good quality white chocolate

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line 3 6” round tins. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time, and add the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour. If the mixture feels a little thick, loosen with a splash of milk. Fill the three tins equally, and bake on the middle shelf for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

2. While the cakes cool, mix the icing sugar, butter, and beat until smooth. Gently melt the white chocolate, and fold it into the buttercream.

3. If the cakes have domed, slice the tops off to flatten them. Spread the top of the bottom layer and the bottom of the second layer with a thin layer of buttercream — coating each surface that will be exposed to the caramel filling will prevent it from seeping into the cakes. Pipe buttercream around the outside of the cake to create a dam to keep the caramel in, then fill the centre with caramel. Place the middle layer on top, and repeat. Pipe buttercream to plug any holes that may allow caramel to escape.

4. When the cake is assembled, lightly coat it with buttercream (crumb coat) and refrigerate for about 30 minutes before coating the whole cake fully. Drizzle the top with caramel and serve.

30g unsalted butter20g golden syrup

20g soft light brown sugar20g caster sugar

50ml double cream1 tsp sea salt

2 drops vanilla extract

Prepare the salted caramel sauce a day in advance. Melt butter, syrup and sugars together and simmer for about 3 minutes in a small heavy based saucepan, then stir in vanilla extract and cream. Add sea salt to taste, being careful not to burn your tongue! Store in the refrigerator.


1. Pre-heat oven to 180C and line 3 baking trays with baking parchment (or just use one and do it in batches).

2. Mix together the flour, polenta, and spices in a large bowl until the spices and polenta are evenly distributed. Add the sugars and butter and rub together until a loose dough comes together. Press it all into a ball.

3. Flour a clean surface and roll the dough out to about 5mm thick. Use a cutter about 2 inches in diameter to cut out your biscuits. Bake for about 13 minutes, until the top has just lost its sheen, and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

4. While the biscuits cool, prepare the glaze by mixing together the icing sugar, spices, and milk. Use a pastry brush to glaze the tops of the biscuits — once the first layer is dry, there should be enough for a second layer. For a more subtle taste, stick to one layer. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days, if they last that long!

Yields 35

225g plain flour25g polenta

½ tsp ground cinnamon¼ tsp ground ginger

Pinch of nutmeg 15g light brown sugar

60g caster sugar175g butter

20g icing sugar¼ tsp ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp ground gingerPinch of nutmeg

1½ tsp milk



Yields 20

375g sweet shortcrust pastry650g mince meat

50g sugar175g chilled margarine

175g plain flour2 tsp baking powder

Icing sugar

DECEMBER 16, 2013 — There are still nine days till Christmas and I am preemptively festively plump. I’ve drunk cocktails and sprained my ankle and danced on it anyway already. The tree is up, wrapping paper has been purchased, and still it does not feel like the season.

It’ll be almost time for the real festivities when I catch the train home, listening to “Driving Home for Christmas”, carrying a suitcase containing far more pairs of shoes than are at all necessary. It’ll feel like December when I get the chance to sneak-peek at the presents. It’ll be Christmas when I’m at home, sat in front of the fire with one of my mum’s boozy mince pies, watching Miracle on 34th Street yet again.

The best mince pie I’ve ever had is a mystery — it was eaten during the sweltering summer of 2012 in a test kitchen, where I had to sample dozens of Christmas desserts. It was tough. The one I loved was flaky, and buttery, and had just the right amount of booze and…I have no idea who made it.

So rather than try to find it, I thought I’d break with tradition just a little, to make a festive variation that keeps in with one of 2013′s biggest trends, the hybrid dessert. Mince pie bottom, Viennese whirl top, wholly delicious.

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C. Roll out the pastry on a well-floured surface to about 3mm thick, and cut out rounds 3″ in diameter. Line a 12 hole shallow bun tin with the rounds, using another piece of pastry to push them down into the holes. Spoon in about one and a half heaped teaspoons of mince meat.

2. Cream together the margarine and sugar until light, and whisk together the flour and baking powder using a fork. Stir the flour into the margarine mixture, and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small star nozzle.

3. Pipe the mixture in a swirl on the top of the mince pies, and bake for around 20 minutes until golden. (Between batches, keep the Viennese mixture in the fridge.) Transfer the pies to a rack to cool, and clean any escaped liquid off immediately (to save on stubborn washing up later!). Dust with icing sugar to serve (a little bit of icing sugar really rounds off the flavours, particularly if your filling is boozy).


MARCH 10, 2014 — These cookies are probably one of the most grown up things I’ve achieved so far. They’re a treat to be served warm, and savoured, the crisp outside giving way to a soft chewy inside, studded with dark chocolate brought to life by smoked sea salt. It’s an indulgence that, dipped into coffee, makes grey Monday mornings at your office job a lot brighter. They’re most certainly cookies for adults.

Adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and sea salt, and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat, swirling continuously until it takes on a darker colour and nutty aroma (1 to 3 minutes). Transfer to a large heatproof bowl and add the sugars, table salt, and vanilla extract, followed by the eggs.

3. Whisk until smooth — about 30 seconds — and then leave well alone for 3 minutes. Dance a little while you wait. Whisk again. Wait and dance again. Whisk again. Wait and dance again. The mixture will be thick and shiny — the sugar has dissolved and it’ll give you a super caramel-y cookie. Use a rubber spatula to stir in the flour mixture until just combined, then add the chocolate chunks.

4. Using about 2 tablespoons of the dough for each cookie, roll into balls and place on the baking tray, about 2” apart (you’ll have to do them in batches, baking one tray at a time. See notes). Bake for 10-13 minutes, until the edges have firmed up but the centres are still somewhat soft — they’re done when pressing the centre lightly leaves a slight indentation — and rotating the tray halfway through the ensure an even bake. Allow to cool on the tray for about 4 minutes before transferring, still on the parchment, to a wire rack and sprinkling with a touch more smoked sea salt.

To reheat, pop the cookies into a warm oven for about 5 minutes (or 20 seconds in the microwave) before serving to get that gooey, melty centre.

Yields 14-16 large cookies

250g plain flour½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp smoked sea salt200g butter

150g dark brown sugar (light brown will also work, if you don’t

have dark)100g granulated sugar

1 tsp table salt1 tsp vanilla extract1 large egg + 1 yolk

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

Smoked sea salt, to sprinkle

Allow the baking tray to cool between batches. Using a hot tray will melt the dough prematurely and give you overbaked edges.

Don’t be tempted to make smaller cookies. Using the right amount is important to ensure you get the crunchy edges and chewy middle.




APRIL 13, 2013 — This time last year, I was in stress central. I was finishing up at the student paper: kissing goodbye to long evenings of cabin fever and fussing over typefaces, trying to let go of the tiny frustrations that made up my final weeks in the insular world of student media.

Instead, I’d begun spending 9-5 in a badly lit room with grey-tinted windows, worrying about the projects that would decide what grade I would receive in July. I thought back to being 18, sitting in a local cupcake shop and conducting an interview for the first time as my voice wobbled with nerves. My dreams took on the form of the work I was doing during the day, and I’d wake disappointed that I had to do it all over again.

But those final months were also when we spent evenings in the park and scorched black rectangles into the grass outside our house with our throw-away barbecues. They were the days when we drank Pimms from tiny paper cups adorned with union jacks. They were the hours, days, weeks, and months we tried to savour as they rushed by and took us, willingly or not, ever closer to a more grown up life.

Recently, one of my best friends asked me: if someone had told you a year ago that this is where you’d be now, would you take it?

In the not-quite-year since I finally handed in that last project and went to bed, at long last, after being awake for 30 hours, a lot has changed. I left university, left home, and watched as everyone I’d come to love in those three years was scattered across the country, leaving us connected by only wires and signals. It has been scary and it has been sad, but blackened grass, too-strong Pimms, and cupcakes will always take me back.

As I mulled over the question, I made these strawberry and coconut cupcakes to transport me back to the wonder of that cupcake shop, with its array of retro cake stands and gingham fabric.

I baked these cupcakes and then I took them to the best place I could: to a bar and three of the girls I shared those last months with.


1. Pre-heat oven to 160C and line a muffin tray with cupcake cases. Cream margarine and sugar until pale and fluffy.

2. On a low speed, beat the eggs in one at a time. Fold in the flour.

3. Split the mixture between the nine cases and bake on the centre shelf for about 10-15 minutes, or until firm to the touch and a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean.

4. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. While they cool, whisk together the butter, sugar, and coconut on a low speed, and when combined, turn the speed up and continue until smooth.

5. When cool, use a sharp knife to make the space for the jam centre. Holding the knife at a slight angle, cut a cylinder about 1” wide out of the centre of the cake. Discard (or, er, eat) these centres. Fill the space with about half a teaspoon of jam, so that the jam comes level with the top of the cupcake. Repeat for all cakes.

6. Using a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, pipe the frosting on. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut to decorate.

Yields nine

100g margarine100g sugar

100g self-raising flour2 medium eggs

185g unsalted butter260g icing sugar

4½ tbsp desiccated coconut, plus extra to decorate

Strawberry jam

What I love most about these cupcakes — apart from the fact that the cake is really simple — is that they look totally unassuming…and then you bite into one and bam! Flavour bomb.


1. Pour the crushed biscuits into a large bowl, add the cream cheese and spices, and mix until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate mixture for about 20 minutes (or freeze for 10) and line a tray with baking parchment.

2. Use your hands to roll balls of the mixture (about two thirds of teaspoon each) and place on the baking parchment. (Doing this with wet hands means less mixture sticks to your hands, but that does mean you have less of an excuse to eat it off your fingers).

3. When all the balls are rolled, freeze for 10 minutes. While they’re freezing, gently melt the white chocolate, using your preferred method.

4. One at a time, roll the balls around in the melted chocolate and return to the lined tray, lifting them out with a fork to allow excess chocolate to drip off. Refrigerate on the tray until the chocolate has solidified again, then transfer to an airtight container to store for up to 3 days.

Yields around 30

200g ginger nut biscuits, finely crushed

125g soft cream cheese (or to make give them a pumpkin twist, replace

50g of the cream cheese with pumpkin puree)

⅛tsp ground cinnamon⅛tsp ground nutmeg200g white chocolate



Serves six

500g summer berries500g full fat Greek yoghurt (I’ve

also heard that low fat works fine!)3 tbsp honey

AUGUST 7, 2013 — Before the weather took a turn for the more bearable, I developed a post-work routine: through the door, shoes kicked off, straight into the bathroom to run my feet under a cold, cold shower in an effort to cool down. All I wanted to do was press an ice cream tub against the back of my neck for sweet relief from the heat, and then have the contents for dinner instead of anything that might require igniting the hob.

But this extended warm spell requires restraint. The longer-than-usual summer* has had one amazing side effect: ice cream is almost always on offer. It’s both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because, well, who doesn’t want half price Ben and Jerry’s? A curse because you cannot eat ice cream every sunny day for a month and not have that reflected in your muffin tops. But frozen yoghurt feels more virtuous. Healthy, even, especially when it’s jammed full of fruit, right?

1. Pre-heat your oven to 190C. Decant the yoghurt to a plastic tub or bowl about twice the volume needed for the yoghurt, stir in two tablespoons of honey, and pop into the freezer.

2. Spread fruit over a ceramic dish or tray at least 1 inch deep and drizzle with a tablespoon of honey. Roast on the centre shelf for 30 minutes.

3. After this time, spoon the majority of the juices into a mug and set aside to cool, then put the fruit back in the oven for a further 30 minutes. Stir the yoghurt with a fork, scraping around the edges to mix the frozen bits in, and return to the freezer.

4. When the fruit has roasted, transfer to a bowl and allow to cool. Add the juices reserved from the roasting to the yoghurt, mix thoroughly, and return again to the freezer. Stir again after a further 45 minutes.

5. After another 45 minutes, mix in the roasted berries and, if necessary, transfer to the vessel you wish to serve the yoghurt in. Return to the freezer for 30 minutes, and then serve. If you’re making the yoghurt ahead of time and freezing overnight, allow the froyo to thaw for 30 minutes before serving.

*Not forgetting, of course, those glorious summer storms with 3am flashes of lightning and warm rush hour rain that allow us to all go back, just briefly, to very British grumbling about soggy feet.

Just to help you get your head around the freezing and stirring...

• Freezer for 30 minutes while fruit gets first roast

• Stir

• Freezer for 30 minutes while fruit gets second roast

• Stir, add juices

• Freeze for 45 minutes

• Stir

• Freeze for 45 minutes

• Stir, add fruit

• Freeze for 30 minutes or overnight.


1. Heat up about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan, which has a lid, over medium heat. When hot, add the chopped onions and garlic and cook until the onions are just turning translucent.

2. Add the squash, carrot, and sage. Add about a litre of the stock, cover with the lid, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the squash and carrot are soft, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

3. Transfer to a large bowl or blender, add the cream cheese and Stilton, and blend until smooth (using a blender or an immersion blender). Add the remaining stock a ladle at a time until you get to your preferred thickness, and season to taste. Serve with thickly buttered bread.

Serves six

1 large onion, finely chopped3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large butternut squash, about 1kg, peeled, deseeded, quartered

and sliced (about 3mm thick)3 large carrots, peeled and sliced,

about 3mm thick4 medium sage leaves, torn into

rough strips1.5l ham stock (or your stock of

choice, but ham stock is delicious)1 tbsp cream cheese (optional)

80g Stilton, cut into chunksBlack pepper

Olive oil


1. In a food processor, blitz the bread until roughly crumbed. Add the cheese, and blitz again until the whole mixture is of breadcrumb texture (some lumps are fine). You can do this the night before and refrigerate if you like to be one step ahead.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 170C. Fry the chicken breast chunks in a large frying pan over medium heat until just browning. Add the mushrooms and leek, and continue to fry until the leeks are soft.

3. Add the soup, mayonnaise, and a squeeze of lemon juice and simmer for about 5 minutes.

4. Transfer to an overproof dish, cover with breadcrumb topping, and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Serve with more vegetables, if you’re that way inclined.

Serves four

150g stale/dry bread110g cheddar cheese

500g chicken breast, chopped into chunks

200g mushrooms, chopped1 medium leek, chopped

1 tin condensed cream of chicken soup

1 tbsp mayonnaise Lemon juice


applesasparagus

beans, broadbeans, runner

beetrootblackberries

blueberriescabbage, whitecabbage, savoy

cabbage, redcarrots

cauliflowerceleriac

celerycherries

courgettecucumber

garlickale

leekslettuceonions

orangesoranges, blood

parsnipspeas

plumspotatoes

raspberriesrhubarbspinach

strawberriessquash

sweetcornswiss chard

tomatoes

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J F M A M J J A S O N D


1 stick = 8 tbsp = 100g1 cup = 225g

Fresh: 1 cup = 50gDried: 1 cup = 115g

Grated cheddar: 1 cup = 115gDiced cheddar: 1 cup = 170gParmesan: 1 cup = 150gCream cheese: 1 cup = 225g

Currants, sultanas: 1 cup = 150gApricots, prunes: 1 cup = 150-175gCherries: 1 cup = 125g

Prawns, peeled: 1 cup = 175gFish, cooked and flaked: 1 cup = 225g

Flour: 1 cup = 115gCornflour: 1 cup = 100g

1 cup = 350g

Rolled: 1 cup = 100gOatmeal: 1 cup = 175g

Almonds, whole, shelled: 1 cup = 150gAlmonds, flaked: 1 cup = 115gHazelnuts: 1 cup = 150gWalnuts and pecans: 1 cup = 115gGround nuts: 1 cup = 115gChopped nuts: 1 cup = 115g

Split peas, lentils: 1 cup = 225gHaricot beans: 1 cup = 200gKidney beans: 1 cup = 300g

Uncooked: 1 cup = 200gCooked, well drained: 1 cup = 165gSemolina, ground rice, couscous: 1 cup = 180g

Caster and granulated: 1 cup = 225gMoist brown: 1 cup = 200gIcing sugar: 1 cup = 125g

Onions, chopped: 1 cup = 115gCabbage, shredded: 1 cup = 75gPeas: 1 cup = 150gBeansprouts: 1 cup = 50gPotatoes, peeled and diced: 1 cup = 170gPotatoes, mashed: 1 cup = 225gTomatoes: 1 cup = 225g


Celsius110ºC130ºC140ºC150ºC170ºC180ºC190ºC200ºC220ºC230ºC

Fan oven100ºC120ºC130ºC140ºC160ºC170ºC180ºC190ºC210ºC220ºC

Fahrenheit225ºF250ºF275ºF300ºF325ºF350ºF375ºF400ºF425ºF450ºF

Gas mark1/41/212345678

Description CoolCoolVery lowVery lowLowModerateMod./hotHotHotVery hot

Metric10g15g25g50g75g100g150g175g200g

Imperial0.25oz0.5oz1oz1.75oz2.75oz3.5oz5.5oz6oz7oz

Metric225g250g275g300g350g375g400g425g450g

Imperial8oz9oz9.75oz10.5oz12oz13oz14oz15oz1 lb

Metric500g700g750g1kg1.25kg1.5kg2kg2.25kg2.5kg

Imperial1lb 2oz1.5lb1lb 10oz2.25lb2lb 12oz3lb 5oz4.5lb5lb5.5lb

1.25ml2.5ml5ml15ml30ml50ml100ml150ml

1/4 tsp1/2 tsp1 tsp1 tbsp1fl oz2fl oz3.5fl oz5fl oz

0.25 pints

200ml300ml500ml600ml700ml850ml1l1.2l

7fl oz10fl oz18fl oz20fl oz

0.3 pints0.5 pints

1 pint1.25 pints1.5 pints1.75 pints2 pints

You can, of course, find more recipes, along with products reviews and more tips and tricks, at TheLittlestBakehouse.com. Hope to see

you there!

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The Best of The Littlest Bakehouse